O silence lasted long seconds.
Slady observed the couple's expressions. They looked at him with the same tranquility shown before.
Victoria saw the man. The young woman beside him. A presence... under the dilated pupils, a reddish aura emanated. Her hands trembled over her leg, the air becoming more humid, as if air particles were being replaced, little by little, by water.
Faller touches the hilt of the sword. His muscles creak, his mind throbs, the body almost moves aggressively, but he remains in place, his fingers squeezing the wood of the counter firmly.
Raizer lowers the glass. His lips, previously raised upward, lowered. His eyebrows furrowing as he placed the glass on the table.
It was a moment of calm, he said. The dear friend who had spoken so much had arrived along with his... little princess. The couple nods slowly, with Victoria agreeing, it was really... a little princess.
Shaphira walks toward them without rushing her steps. Faller and Victoria allow passage, she reaches the middle and hands the cake to Raizer, who smiles. What had she prepared? She replied that it was a promise she owed to Elisa. Then he pointed to the stairs, sending her to stay with her friend for a moment. They would eat soon. Now the adults needed to be alone.
She waves frantically and runs to the stairs, her tail swinging, hitting against the wooden railings. The characteristic made the couple widen their eyes, as they slowly turned their necks. There was no wait, only the question:
That girl was a demon?
Slady lets out a sigh through his nose. He regrets that they discovered the fact so early, and it was not "was", she IS a demon. Faller stands up, with the weapon tight between his fingers, Victoria tries to stand up, asking the man not to lose control. However, Raizer held her.
He whispers in her ear that Faller would not be capable of attacking Slady...
Especially after what he revealed.
Victoria swallowed hard.
Faller stands in front of Slady. He takes a deep breath, his chest puffing out. He kneels at his height. How... how had he been capable? That was his doubt. It was something that, as it impressed him, also made him fear. And, mainly, if having Shaphira was not dangerous not only for Slady, but for the world in general. To have a demon... trained... intelligent...
He told him to shut up and never speak of his daughter in that way again. He stares back at him, his hands joined in front of his waist. The fact that she is a Renkai Creature will not scare him, he knows her, he taught her. If one day she attacks, he himself must suffer the punishment.
Faller remained with his eyes open while listening to him. He stood up. It was honorable what he said, worthy of a good father.
He looked at the room for a moment, his dominant hand still reaching for the sword... he controlled himself. And he extended it to Slady. He comments that he is grateful for everything he has done up to that moment, therefore, the only logic for him is that Slady knows what he must be doing.
So it is fair to trust. And this handshake would concretize that idea. Slady looked at his hand. Sweaty, trembling. He reciprocates, squeezing with equal force.
***
On the night whose winds made their clothes fly, Faller covered his wife with the coat. She thanks him. At the same moment, with her eyes shining with the lights of the posts covered by vines rising from the grasses and wrapping around the lamps, she asks about the night they had. The man. The girl...
The girl, surprisingly for Faller, is very polite. He wants to know her more, but his instincts still warn him to neutralize her. The woman's shoulders lower, living under so many fights is what made them strong, but also, any strange diversity activated survival instincts. It is... tiring to live that way. Faller laughs, it was the reality. Then Victoria, leaning her head on her husband's chest, asked about Slady.
The steps became slower, the arms that enveloped her became stronger. A long second before answering, but when it came, it was a certainty:
Shaphira is an anomaly in a world that fears demons. Slady... from what he heard from Raizer...
Is worse than any demon.
***
"Tell me, Raizer, what did you say to the two about me?"
"I? I did not say anything too much about you, my friend. To defend myself, they told me that they suspected you. You are strange to them."
"In what sense?"
"All."
"A shame. Anyway, you still have not answered what you spread about my person to them."
"I will be direct: the day we met."
"... You are an idiot."
***
Repositioned on the bed, Slady lies down beside her, Shaphira. She purred, saliva escaping from her mouth while her sharp nails stayed over her swollen belly.
Suddenly, beside him. The ghostly figure of Truth returns, sitting on the room's table.
"Forgive me?"
"For what? You did nothing."
"I did. I was not fair with you. I reduced your suffering for what you will become. No matter the grandiosity, you are the one in command, you are the one who suffers. Sorry."
"I cannot escape this... and, if you want my sincerity, I do not want to risk waking her up by whispering. Please, go and leave me."
"... I have not been forgiven yet..."
She disappears like mist spreading through the air. Slady gets up, touches the eye patch on the table delicately. He puts it on his face.
In the kitchen, he supported his arms on a chair, lowering his head. The past mentioned by Raizer passes through his mind. A familiar cry... he hits his own head against the chair, generating a low echo.
Suddenly, the smell of smoke takes over his nostrils. He raises his eyebrow. He walks through the kitchen, investigating all the electrical connections. Quickly, he runs to the entrance of the library, opening a panel and pressing all the buttons. Darkness takes over everything...
But the smell still remains...
More and more intense.
He returns the lights and heads to the outside of the library.
His eye widened.
A wave of smoke rose from afar to the skies. However, the distance between the place and his dwelling sounded familiar...
Could it be... all this fire...
Is from La Taberna?
***
He returns to the city. Flames rise from the floor to the ceiling of the familiar tavern. Slady runs inside. The image that followed made him paralyze, and a tear cross from the ocular orbit to the fire:
Raizer.
Fallen in the middle of the tavern. A heart beside the body emanating the reddish energy. Blood leaking from his mouth like a river.
And a hole in the chest reaching to the floor.
And the memories he did not wish to remember end up returning like a ray carbonizing a body.
Her screams.
The mechanization in each act.
And, mainly, that young duo.
For a moment, he was with the tools again. The female body naked open, the organs moving. His hand reaches the bluish heart, an opposite sensation to the heat making his fingers turn purple.
"You will be human."
And, when he turned for withdrawal, two bodies hanging by iron wires showed themselves unconscious. He sticks his hand in the man's and the woman's pocket. Cards, Lynes, identity:
"Raizer Fainer, Raintalya Fainer. Hunters of Destruction? Impressive..."
For another moment, he remembered when he woke them up. Sitting on the chair, the man and the woman stared at each other. They tried to escape while he was in front of them, positioning the unconscious body on the table. And also, from the attempt to comfort her when seeing her die.
That past, different from many years. It was still so clear...
But the fire is clearer, muffling the image.
And only one thought came to his mind.
"Elisa!"
He runs to the stairs, trips on the disassembled woods. The flame spreads from his shoes and reaches his knee.
He crosses the fire.
The eye patch falls.
Upon opening the door...
A cocoon of blood?
The female voice clamored for her father. He announces his presence by calling her amid the screams. The cocoon melts, falling to the floor like puddles of the red liquid.
Elisa was in front of him.
In tears.
"Uncle Slady!!"
The last vision he obtained is, through the walls of flames, a man whose only characteristic besides the silhouette...
Was a red light in place of the never revealed eye.
***
"Recording 1. Early morning. Suspect...?"
"Slady. Only Slady."
"Right. Are you aware of the incident that occurred with the former Hunter of Destruction, Raizer?"
"I am."
"Are you also aware that you were denounced for being inside the tavern, La Taberna, at the same time?"
"I am."
"Do you have any proof that matches that you were not the cause of the flames? And, mainly, of the disappearance of this man's daughter, Elisa Fainer?"
"I am an old friend of his. I have known him for more years than I can count. I even have a will that proves that, if there is his death, I have the right to adopt Elisa."
"And did you do it?"
"I rescued her."
"Why did you not alert the police at the same moment?"
"I was busy healing myself from the burns and, mainly, that girl's heart."
"... Understood. So, if you did not cause this fire, who did?"
"That is what you are investigating me for, is it not? I believe that, a good time ago, I installed a camera in La Taberna. If it was not destroyed, I, perhaps, can recover the files."
"Yes. We have..."
"Hmm... it is carbonized, but I can recover the files. But I believe it will be very difficult. It will require a lot of time from me to repair the pieces."
"Well. For now, you will be released. However, any suspicious movement, we will interrogate you again. Any information, tell us. Have a good day, Mr. Slady."
"Likewise, miss..."
"Miss Yuang."
"Yes... Miss Rin Yuang."
A final handshake ended the conversation. Upon leaving the police station, Slady looks at the camera on his fingers. Previously white, now black.
He slid his fingers through his hair, murmuring how irritating it was to have to "surrender" as a suspect. But, despite the risks, "surrendering", from what he saw on the face of that woman who did not recognize him, improved his image as a good citizen.
In the library, the door opened slowly. In the room, the two young women were found asleep. The pillow, on the side where Elisa's head was located, was wet, even spreading to the mattress. Shaphira, beside her, hugged her. The tense face even in unconsciousness made Slady touch her hair.
"You are being strong, Elisa. Stronger than any young woman."
Upon leaving, he walked through bushes that covered his face. The creatures whose flesh replaced the skin roared and even jumped toward him, being held by the mechanical arm and crushed under his fingers, the blood jumping to his apathetic face, painting the white band over the always covered eye.
A path of flowers positioned in a pattern where the petals pointed in the direction appears. Minutes pass, the branches hitting against his arm. And then, a clearing reveals itself before him, covered with flowers in all corners.
Four tombstones, and, beside them, there was one where, under it, it was clay, not grass.
With his hands passing through the strands over his ears, Slady murmurs:
"Now, finally, you are together."